A Modern Utopia

by H. G. Wells

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Pages: 182

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Read by humanode, Felicity C, Caeliveres and others · 10 h 11 min · 21 parts

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Introduction: The Owner of the Voice
12:08
Chapter 1: Topographical
41:41
Chapter 2: Concerning Freedoms, Sections 1-3
31:15
Chapter 2: Concerning Freedoms, Sections 4-7
24:02
Chapter 3: Utopian Economics, Sections 1-4
42:40
Chapter 3: Utopian Economics, Sections 5-8
32:58
Chapter 4: The Voice of Nature
28:54
Chapter 5: A Failure in a Modern Utopia, Sections 1-3
25:28
Chapter 5: A Failure in a Modern Utopia, Sections 4-8
25:55
Chapter 6: Women in a Modern Utopia, Sections 1-4
37:26
Chapter 6: Women in a Modern Utopia, Sections 5-6
30:37
Chapter 7: A Few Utopian Impressions, Sections 1-3
24:41
Chapter 7: A Few Utopian Impressions, Sections 4-7
24:18
Chapter 8: My Utopian Self
13:42
Chapter 9: The Samurai, Sections 1-3
28:43
Chapter 9: The Samurai, Sections 4-5
25:40
Chapter 9: The Samurai, Sections 6-8
30:16
Chapter 10: Race in Utopia, Sections 1-2
35:14
Chapter 10: Race in Utopia, Sections 3-5
26:34
Chapter 11: The Bubble Bursts
32:21
Appendix, Scepticism of the Instrument
36:28

A Modern Utopia (1905) is a public domain work.

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About this book

An imagined society becomes a testing ground for the rules and habits of ordinary life in H. G. Wells's 1905 book. Its unusual form moves between a speaker reading his thoughts on Utopia and scenes involving that speaker and a botanist. Wells describes the speaker closely, down to his gestures and tone of voice, giving the discussion a human presence alongside its abstract ideas.

The proposed society occupies another planet, where familiar customs can be reconsidered. Marriage, the economic positions of husbands and wives, government and education all enter the argument. The discussion pays particular attention to how inherited expectations shape feelings, and to the difficulty of designing laws around those feelings. Readers interested in political philosophy can follow Wells testing social arrangements while also examining the methods and assumptions behind his thinking. The shifting balance of narrative and reflection makes the personalities part of the debate.

About the author

H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than forty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography, and autobiography.